Happiness
by laurzz
Summary: DannyLindsayLucy. Post-ep for 9x11. "What would we do with a million dollars?" "Danny, we're trying to solve a murder here..."


**Oh goodness, it feels so good to be back watching csiny before the crack of dawn. It's felt like forever, it's definitely about time these wonderful fictional characters came back into our lives, I don't know about you guys but damn I've missed them. And to get so many DL scenes? If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times; trey callaway god love you sir. **

**However, fred works in funny ways and I am not discussing the last scene at all. period. it hits too close to home and for now, I'm completely just going to stay in denial about it. I thought i would have been writing the post ep about it somehow but nope. no. no. just no. no. nope. Did I mention no? **

**Anyway, enough about that scene that didn't happen. I am so excited to have something new to post for you guys so I hope you guys like this! **

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Sighing and rolling his pen back and forth on the desk in front of him as he waited for the operator to pick up the call again, he glanced over to Lindsay and couldn't help but smile. Her new hair cut she'd gotten for the Christmas holiday was looking gorgeous and he couldn't help but appreciate the fact that he'd gotten damn lucky when married Lindsay. He'd done a lot of shitty things in his life before, but fighting for her, for Lucy and for them was one of his better life decisions.

"Detective Messer?" The operator's voice sounded down the line. "Sorry, but we've had nobody in the time frame which you've enquired about that matches that description. I will however make a note of it and will make sure to inform you if anyone matching the description does come in."

"Alright, thanks for your help. I appreciate it." He sighed as he electronically crossed off another hospital from his and Lindsay's list.

"This is Detective Lindsay Messer from the New York Crime lab-"

Danny stretched as he hung up the phone onto the receiver as he began to pull up another hospital number. As he listened to Lindsay being put on hold, he shuffled in his seat and settled down for the long task at hand. He'd initially thought that they might just get lucky… after all, they had ended up eating lunch together – a true rarity in their relationship. And truth to be told, it had been so nice to sit and just eat lunch with his wife. Granted they had wolfed their respective lunches down, with Lindsay helping him with his potato chips, but that was beyond they point, they had both been together and they had both been eating… it was a true miracle.

"Trinity, Angela speaking."

"Hi, it's Detective Danny Messer here with the New York crime lab. Can I be passed through to the Emergency room?"

"One moment." Angela sounded before the cheesy hospital music sounded on the phone.

"Hey Linds," Danny called to her after making sure she was still on hold.

"I'm on the phone," she said. He quietly wondered whether it was out of habit from Lucy finding the perfect moment as Lindsay answered a phone call to ask a million questions.

"You're also on hold." He pointed out.

Sighing, Lindsay turned and looked at him over her shoulder with a smile. "Yes dear?"

"What would we do with a million dollars?"

"Danny, we're solving a murder here…"

"I know, I know!" he held his hands up in mock surrender. "But I've gotta do something with my mind to fill the dead space."

"…. That was a terrible joke." Lindsay snorted as she swivelled to face him on her chair.

"So it was a little shaky on the landing," he shrugged. "What do you think, what would we do with a million?"

"Well, we'd stop debating and finally move to a bigger place outside of the city." She began as if she'd already thought about it. "Then we'd probably each have a car so that we could still get to work with no trouble if we were on different shifts. Lucy would have her college paid for… and we could probably put some aside for our other children that we're gonna have."

"Oh we are?"

"All it takes is one missed pill." She winked at him. "And to be honest, with the amount that we… well, it's hardly unlikely is it."

"Well it wouldn't be a shock, I'll give you that," he smirked. "You know, there's a time about seven years ago where you would have died before you said something like that."

"Looks like you've rubbed off on me."

"I've done a lot of things on you-"

"-Detective Messer, sorry to keep you waiting on hold there; how can I help?"

Danny cleared his throat as an attempt to find composure before repeating his perfected speech to the latest emergency room administrator. Lindsay sighed as she continued to listen to possibly, the most overplayed, annoying series of songs that had been on a loop for the past twelve minutes. If she wasn't waiting on something so important she'd have lost her mind more than she already had…. Although Danny always made tasks like this more interesting. Whether it was risqué conversations like the one they'd just shared, or the stolen glances they had perfected over the years… or simply a smile shared between the two of them that spoke a thousand words. Either way, with Danny around her, she'd happily listen to Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis a thousand times if it meant that it gave them a few minutes to just be them in and amongst the chaos.

"Alright, well thank you for your help anyway." He sighed as he hung up the receiver. "Nada," he said by way of explanation. "Any luck?"

"Nope, and you'd have thought somebody would have taken mercy on poor Leona and stopped the blood flow."

"Keep bleeding?" Danny smirked. "Yeah, I've had that too. It's a little sick isn't it?" he snorted. "I mean, for a hospital? Wow."

"I hadn't even thought of that." Lindsay grimaced. "So, what were you thinking of spending the hypothetical million on?" she asked, swirling in her seat to face him again.

"Well, I'd get you and Lucy some pretty things. Decorate the house however you wanted. Get the cars, pay for college for Lucy and our other kids apparently… then I think I'd get a Harley again."

"Oh gosh," Lindsay smiled at the memory. "That's a blast from the past… the Harley. I forgot you'd even had one of those. I still can't believe you got me on that."

"I still can't believe you didn't want to get on it." He smirked, "I thought little Montana from the country would have been all over the motorcycle."

"I've seen the pictures from road accidents involving bikes… no thank you."

"Alright, jeez." He sighed playfully as he dialled the next number. "Always gotta take work home with you, huh?"

"Hey, some things you just can't ignore." She reasoned before turning in her seat. "Hello? Hi, it's Detective Lindsay Messer from the New York Crime lab-" Lindsay began punching the air in excitement at the answer from the operator. As Lindsay talked to the operator, Danny listened to the tone of the dial ring before dialling the next hospital's number. As he listened to the various departments and options available, he sat back and thought about the different ways he and Lindsay could spend a million dollars.

They'd been lucky throughout the years; they'd always been able to make ends meet apart from one or two rough patches where money had been tight for whatever reason. They were healthy, happy and content and they were extremely in love with one another. Money couldn't buy any of that. Money could however buy them a little country house in England where they could escape for a while and listen to the rain of the British summer from inside their little leaky cottage. Danny pursed his lips, as much as they liked their rain there was probably only so many rain walks Lindsay could go on before enough was enough. Striking the idea of a country house in England from his mind he smirked at the thought of his next brilliant idea, a condo in the Bahamas sounded perfect. A nice little stretch of beach for them to call their own. Yep, that sounded like a cool way to spend a million. After of course they had made sure everything else was done and sorted like Lucy's college fund and their retirement and anything else that probably needed some attention.

Pressing the appropriate numbers to get to the operator, Danny exhaled slowly at the thought of him and Lindsay wrapped up in a blanket in a country estate somewhere in England. Despite the hammock in the Bahamas calling his name, he couldn't help but venture back to the idea of the country house in England. It was pretty amazing to think that even a few years ago, the thought of him even having the chance to cuddle with Lindsay was a long and distant one… especially considering he didn't cuddle. How things had changed, he thought to himself.

Hearing Lindsay click her fingers, he stood ready with his pen before slamming the phone down onto the receiver. He watched as she furiously scribbled away all of the answers to her questions on her notepad that was filled with doodles of Lucy's name and flower patterns that had been traced over probably twenty times as she had been waiting on hold.

He entered the details she'd gained onto her computer and within a few moments a nice long rap sheet displayed itself in front of them and even before Lindsay could thank the operator, Danny felt the 'boom' leaving his mouth.

Boom.

* * *

"And then what else?" Lucy squealed as she paused, her fork in midair.

"Those mashed potatoes are gonna fall," Danny warned before the mashed potatoes descended back to Lucy's little plate. "Told ya," he smirked.

"Well," Lindsay continued as she leant across the table and wiped Lucy's mouth with her napkin. "I'm sure we could do horse riding."

"Would we have a swimming pool?" Lucy asked.

"Probably not outside," Lindsay shook her head. "Maybe a heated one inside though." She grinned. "What do you say, Daddy? When we get our million dollars, can we get a heated swimming pool inside of our English mansion?"

"I wish I'd never told you that." He grumbled as he stuffed some chicken pot pie into his mouth. "You're fillin' her head with ideas, Linds." He gestured towards Lucy.

"So?" Lindsay shrugged as she took a sip of her water. "There's nothing wrong in dreaming, is there pumpkin?" She asked Lucy.

"Nope!" Lucy agreed enthusiastically with a mouth full of pie.

"I'll accept that," Danny sighed, "But I don't accept little girls talkin' with their mouths full of pie."

"Sowwy," Lucy mumbled as she forked some peas into her mouth. "So, what else would we do?" She turned to Lindsay and asked excitedly.

"Well, we could go to Disney world… and then well, whatever we wanted I'd say."

Lucy smiled before pursing her lips together thoughtfully. "You know when we were done with goin' places and stuff." She began in her quickly developing New York accent. "Would you guys stay at home forever then?" Lucy asked. "With me?"

Both Danny and Lindsay cast a glance towards each other and sighed heavily. "Is that what you'd want?" Danny asked.

Lucy nodded slowly, glancing down at her food.

"All Mommies and Daddies work, princess," Danny explained. "It's what we have to do."

"But if you had lots of money, you wouldn't need to, right?"

"But the money would run out eventually." Danny explained. "Not for some, but the way we've just spent it, I have to wonder…" he directed towards Lindsay with a smirk. "And then what would we do?"

"I dunno," she shrugged. "Play at home?"

"What about school?" Lindsay added. "You like school now, right?"

"I guess," Lucy shrugged.

"Well while you were at school, Daddy and I could go to work and then we could all meet back at home when we were all done."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, okay…. So when do we get our money?"

Lindsay jutted her lip out and smiled softly and Danny couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. "Baby, we're just pretending. Only people who really need the money got some."

"But we need it. We need a nice house and a pony."

"We have a lovely apartment." Lindsay pointed out to her. "And you have lots of beautiful things to play with in your room. The people who got the money don't have half of the lovely things we do. We're really lucky Lucy… so we might not ever get that money but that's okay."

"It is?" Lucy furrowed her brow. "But… it sounds like so much fun."

"It does," Lindsay nodded. "And maybe we could go and do all of that some day. We might not be able to make the house our very own, but maybe we could borrow a house like it from somewhere and stay for a few days instead. I mean, I don't know about you, but I think Daddy would start to miss New York if we went to England and was surrounded by trees and grass."

"Yeah!" Lucy giggled. "Daddy doesn't even like Central Park."

"Alright you two, you done now?"

Both Lucy and Lindsay shared a giggle between the two of them. "Yeah, we're done." Lindsay smiled at Danny softly.

"Good," Danny muttered. "Because I'll tell you what, Daddy would like just anywhere so long as he had you two knuckleheads with him."

"Uh oh!" Lucy's eyes widened. "Daddy called Mommy a knucklehead."

"You know what that means!" Lindsay cried as she pushed back from her seat, dropping her knife and fork onto the table. Danny automatically stood and lifted Lucy out of the chair she'd been sat in and held her up in front of him.

"You'll have to go through Lucy first!" He cried as he backed away from Lindsay who had her fingers outstretched in front of her, poised and ready to tickle.

"Never!" Lucy cried, kicking and flailing in Danny's arms. "Mommy wouldn't do that!"

Lindsay slyly winked at Danny who smirked before he pulled Lucy tight to his chest and held her in place so that Lindsay could find Lucy's ticklish spot and as predicted Lucy's little high pitched squeal sounded from her little lungs, deafening Danny in the process. He let her slither down him onto the floor and then she debated reaching for Lindsay before realising that Lindsay had been the one and the same who had started the tickle attack. Lucy instead took off for the couch and launched herself over the arm and dug herself into the cushions, creating a barrier around herself.

Chuckling at their daughter's squealing antics, Danny and Lindsay both retook their places at the table before calling Lucy back to finish her pot pie before dessert. After a few moments of hesitance and nervousness, Lucy's little footsteps could be heard making their way back to the table where she too resumed eating her dinner with a smile on her face and a giggle escaping every now and then at the glance of Lindsay's smile or Danny's wink in her direction.

They might not have had a million dollars in the bank and somewhere down the line there might even be a time where they didn't even have one hundred dollars in the bank… But money didn't buy happiness and there was no denying that happiness filled the four walls of the Messer's apartment in many other ways than what a million dollars would. Sure it would be nice, but without it, life would be just as good.

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**Apparently fred rebelled against the angst and devastation of the episode with extreme fluff. sounds about right. hope you guys liked this one. I'd really appreciate it if you felt like leaving a comment... please do so! they are extremely appreciated and they make my day! :) Thanks for reading. **


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